Letter: County has more pressing priorities than mufflers (Printed Aug. 6, 2010)
This York County taxpayer and Kennebunk resident is outraged to learn tax dollars and police resources were used to harass motorcyclists at a “check point” near Bentley’s (“Police crack down on loud bikes,” July 30). Last I knew, outside of Arizona this sort of targeted discriminatory profiling is illegal.
Instead of issuing a press release it would seem the sheriff’s office should be preparing for a lawsuit from a biker targeted by this harassment. If Sheriff Maurice Ouellette and Kennebunk Police Chief Robert MacKenzie wish to do some educational work on highway safety, perhaps a quick trip with state and town engineers in tow, to Route 35 or Main Street in West Kennebunk would be a better use of taxpayer dollars. These stretches of road pose more of a threat to public safety than a motorcyclist with loud pipes.
If the objective of the new law cited in the article targeting loud motorcycle pipes, is to reduce noise pollution, it is this citizen’s hope that enforcement will be more balanced than this check point seemed to be.
Hopefully the law will also target the more frequent noise pollution coming from air brakes on trucks, loud diesel motors, low flying aircraft, construction equipment, wood chippers, lawn mowers and chain saws, all of which, I’m certain, have decibel levels equal to or greater than most motorcycles.
Instead of harassing the bikers, let’s thank them for choosing transportation that uses less fuel, and be grateful they are bringing their business to York County and the towns of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.
Steve Kelley
West Kennebunk
When the effort to rein in the abusive behavior of smoking in a public place in the presence of others who didn't want to be exposed to the toxins of second-hand smoke, the public mostly didn't support this effort. Now, smoking in a public place like a restaurant or hospital, which was legal not many years ago, is about as acceptable as spitting on the floor. Riding loud is also abusive behavior and will increasingly be recognized as such by the larger public who are already demanding that something be done about it. Motorcyclists are less than five percent of the United State's population and loud riders are less than one percent of the population. Maine Citizens for Quiet Motorvehicles applauds Sheriff Ouellette's and Chief MacKenzie's efforts to rein in the abusive behavior of riding loud and hope that they have increasing success with their future efforts.
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Steve,
Regarding the action by Sheriff Maurice Ouellette and Kennebunk Police Chief Robert MacKenzie , I applaud their action. They only warned bikers about the change in the law effecting loud bikes. They did give citations to several uninspected motorcycles and one unlicensed operator. All police officers have a responsibility to insure the vehicles on the road are inspected. When 40% of the vehicles registered in any class are not inspected, they all should be stopped until that lawlessness is corrected.
I have a motorcycle, it is inspected before I ride it. It is the law and was the law for the thirty five years I have had a motorcycle. But my bike has a legal exhaust and can be inspected!
If the lawn mowers and chainsaws were being modified with the result that the modification caused an increase the amount of noise they were creating they would be targeted as are the bikers. When a biker modifies the exhaust on a bike, for whatever reason, resulting in excessive noise from the machine and then rides it on public highways, I equate it to a smoker intentionally blowing smoke in my face. Face it, it has gone on long enough. It will change as did smoking in public places.
Alan Harriman
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I don't know if the writer, Steve Kelly, actually READ what he wrote, or just did a brain dump, because his arguments just don't stand up. This discussion is simple, majority rules. And the majority wants to live in a peaceful, non-abusive world where the golden rule (the most simple of all rules) still applies). If Steve Kelly has a problem with loud, umm... chain saws in his neighborhood, he should call his local police department (the non-emergency number) and ask them to enforce the local noise laws. However, a loud chain saw can not be compared in any reasonable way with an excessively loud motorcycle that rattles the windows of every house he/she passes, during every mile, during every second or=f every minutes of every time that bike is in use.
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